Sorry to be such a newbie, but I have had no success on my own and would appreciate some input...

I want to run my GCP with my AXE-Ultra like usual, and at the same time have my PC hooked up to my AXE thru my Midimate controller cable. Is this not what the "Thru" connection should provide, or is there another eay to hook this up?

You can connect the PC MIDI out into the Ground Control Pro MIDI in and the MIDI out to your Axe-Fx. Alternately, if the PC is at your rack and you don't want to run an extra MIDI cable back to the GCP on the floor, you can combine the PC & GCP with an external box such as a MIDI Solutions Merger.

The MIDIMate that I knew was a footcontroller from Rocktron which was discontinued in the '90s... I've used the Uno.

Are you doing something that you need to control the Axe-FX from the footcontroller and PC simultaneously? For example, is the PC running a sequencer and making changes during live performance for you? Or are you just using the PC as an editor/librarian for the presets?

Now I understand! This is not for live performance, it is just a convenience issue.

The Axe-FX editing is done with MIDI sysex commands, which the current GCP filters. This was done because sysex messages can be very long, and we didn't want to have any delays when you hit a button on the GCP. This almost never comes up as an issue, but it is possible we could change it on a future firmware revision if more people want to do this.

Here are the choices:

1. Patch from the GCP MIDI out to the Axe-FX. When you want to edit presets, move the cable from the GCP out to the PC out.

2. Get a small MIDI patchbay. Then when you want to edit, you flip a switch to change the routing.

3. Get a MIDI merger. Then you can merge the MIDI outs of PC and GCP together and send that to Axe-FX. No patching or switches.

MIDI Solutions makes a merge box for USD79. I designed an autorouter specifically for sysex back in the '80s called the Digital Music Funnel. That would work well if you can find one. Also, the Digital Music MX-28S (manual switching) or MX-28M with merge (no switching). Any of these old DMC products would be very cheap on eBay if you find one.